While it wasn’t the first iteration of the series saw, the three seasons of Mystery Science Theater 3000 comprising the Sci-Fi Channel era are my MST3K. Mike Nelson and his robot pals were caught in an endless chase, pursued by a woman whose name is Pearl. Those were my middle school and early high school seasons and that’s where a lot of my sense of humor began. Nearly 30 years since then, we’re getting more of that crew in MST3K: The RiffTrax Experiments. The trailer is below, and seeing Mike don the jumpsuit with Crow and Tom on either side really makes me happy.
The trailer debut signifies the first of those experiments is coming to theater screens near us via Fathom. We also get to hear just a smidgeon of Jonathon Coulton’s new version of the classic theme tune. The movie will be 1966’s Sting of Death, directed by schlock great William Grefé. And boy does it sound dumb.
“A deformed man working for a marine biologist takes revenge on the people that mock him by experimenting with a deadly jellyfish.”
The four episodes comprising The RiffTrax Experiments are the result of an uber successful Kickstarter campaign from earlier this year. The return of Mystery Science will mean not only the classic riffers, but two different sets of Mads. Pearl (Mary Jo Pehl), Bobo (Kevin Murphy), and Brain Guy (Bill Corbett) from the Sci-Fi Channel years, plus Dr. Clayton Forrester (Trace Beaulieu) and TV’s Frank (Frank Conniff) from the prior Comedy Central years.
Sting of Death will premiere in cinemas on September 9, 2026, with an encore showing on September 13. So, if you’re like me, a kid of the late-’90s, you’ll certainly want to be there. You can buy tickets at FathomEntertainment.com.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.